Category: Blog

Shop blog

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Nuun hydration

As the days seem to be getting warmer (and muggier) it’s definitely important to make sure you’re staying hydrated whilst cycling, or doing any activity for that matter!

 

Nuun hydration tablets are a great way of doing this- a refreshing tasting electrolyte tablet, they replace the electrolytes and minerals (sodium, potassium, magnessium and calcium) lost during daily activities, especially so through sweat.

 

By introducing the electrolytes you reduce the risk of headaches, cramps and feeling fatigued prematurely. (Nuun)

 

We’ve been using them for about half a year now, for cycling, walking, badminton, swimming, spinning, weights classes, and gymming in general and would say that they certainly do the trick! I definitely feel like I can cycle better for longer using them as opposed to just water. Of course they also taste a lot nicer than plain water, so help if, like me, you’re not terribly good at drinking frequently anyway.

 

In comparison to other electrolyte tablets that I’ve tried I would say they taste many, many times better – they don’t have that artificial sweetener taste that many others seem to have for one, and they also have such a wide range of flavours that even the fussiest of taste buds should find a couple of flavours that are enjoyable.

 

Currently they have 10 flavours available in the UK, everything from the almost savory grape and lemon tea, to the really sweet tropical and fruit punch to the more “safe bets” of orange and citrus fruits.

 

We’ve got them all in stock, and if you fancy trying a few then we do four tubes for £20

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Mid season Summer sale

 

 

 

 

Just a quick note about our Summer sale!

 

Main offers include discounts of up to 50% on lights and helmets, as well as 10% off all bikes!

 

Light brands include:

Lezyne, Electron, Blackburn and Cherrybomb

 

Helmet brands include:

Giro and Cratoni

 

As well as the 10% off bikes, we’ll  give you 15% off any accessories purchased alongside. Fitting of items such as racks and mudguards is also included.

 

 


 

 

 

 

Shoes, cleats and pedals

 

We’ve also now got a continuous deal on shoes, cleats and pedals – any pair of shoes bought will get a free pair of Shimano cleats, or if a pair of shoes is purchased with a pair of pedals we’ll give you 10% off the total.

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Lapierre Audacio road bike

The Lapierre Audacio road bike is a great model, one which myself and Becci owned for 18 months riding day in day out.

 

Its nicest feature is the built in comfort of the superbly designed frame, having ridden all over Somerset on it I can safely say that it copes very well with bumpy and worn roads.  The rear is where you really notice the benefit of all the tube tweaking – the skinny seat stays flex slightly producing a very cushioned ride and dampening out vibration from rougher surfaces.  I did at least 7 100 mile rides on it last year with no ill effects to my rear!!  It has even come down in price slightly from £999 to £949.  Its got some great reviews over the last couple of years (Bikeradar.com), the only thing I’d suggest you upgrade straight away are the tyres as they’re not the greatest. We’d probably throw in some Continental Gatorskins in fact if that seals the deal!

 

We currently have two of the Audacio range in stock, the 400 (the same one I owned) and the 300, the model below. For the extra £100 there is a slight decrease in weight, but the main difference is the transmission, and the upgrade from 9 speed Sora to 10 speed Tiagra. The frame also has a better overall finish, looking more like carbon then alloy!

 

Currently we have the 400 in a 52 cm and 49 cm, and we have the 300 in a 55 cm – a perfect range of sizes for most men and women.

 

 


Lapierre Audacio 300 specs:
  • new audacio alloy 7005 frame
  • lapierre alloy/carbon fork
  • new shimano sora 3x9s transmission
  • ritchey handlebar & stem
  • shimano wheelset
  • 9.4 kg
  • £849

Lapierre Audacio 400 specs:
  • new audacio alloy 7005 frame
  • lapierre alloy/carbon fork
  • shimano tiagra 10s (triple)
  • ritchey handlebar & stem
  • shimano wheelset
  • 9.3 kg
  • £949
Audacio 400 skinny seat stays

 

Audacio 400

 

Audacio 300

 

 

 

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Carradice Luggage

We’re quite keen on supporting British ‘made in UK’ brands.  So stocking in Carradice seemed commonsense.  Carradice panniers and luggage are highly regarded by British bike tourers and commuters.  Their signature luggage items are handmade canvas ‘Cotton Duck’ roll saddle bags, which we have in stock.  But here we are taking a look at their more ‘up to date’ 100% waterproof panniers.

I first came across Carradice luggage at the Cycle Show at Birmingham’s NEC last year, I knew about them before this and it was great to see it in the flesh.  They had an amazing collection on display including a new range of ‘designer’ Ally Capellino waxed cotton bags.  These can be ordered in if required but what really interested me were the practical everyday panniers.

The rucksack pannier is really genius, there are others out there but I don’t think done quite as well.  The rucksack straps are attached to the pannier, with velcro webbing and standard buckles, really easy to take on and off.  The bag itself is constructed with high frequency welded seams, less material is used and 100% waterproof as they don’t need to tape stitched seams.  The best bit about it is that it is only £60 and comes with a very nice padded laptop holder, complete with accessory pouches, it holds 27 litres.

Rucksack pannier

There are 2 other types of pannier that we have in the shop, universal / front panniers and  rear panniers. The universal / front panniers can be used on the rear!  The one feature that is nice on these panniers is the bombproof rack attachment, it really is secure and very easy to click on and off.  The universal / front panniers carry 20 litres for the pair and the rear panniers 58 litres for the pair.

Rear pannier with side zip pocket

They are prices at £55 and £85 for the pair respectively.  All the bags have plenty of reflective detailing, without being garish.  Replaceable items are guaranteed for 2 years (zips / hooks) and if the bag fails due to manufacturing defects will be repaired at Carradice’s discretion, pretty much a lifetime guarantee for the original owner then!

Universal / front pannier

 

 

 

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Kinesis builds

We’re having a bit of a Kinesis themed craze at the moment! So here’s a quick blog about some of the different models that have been chosen by customers, and us.

The Decade Tripster

 

This has proved to be very popular recently; and with good reason!

With it’s disc compatibility, ability to take rack, full mudguards and large knobly tyres the Tripster is perfect to use as a commuter, and can be built with flat handlebars if prefered. However, just because it’s practical doesn’t mean it’s not fast- it can take 23 mm tyres, and with it’s drop bars you can still use it as a weekend worker.

It’s a cyclocross frame at heart, with the geometry taken from the crosslight series, so can really handle anything you throw at it, however, a longer headtube provides a more relaxed ride.

Basically, this bike can be whatever you want it to be! That’s the joy of it- fancy doning your lycra and getting in the miles? Hitting the trails? Slinging on the jeans for a more casual jaunt? Or carrying loads like trailers and kids? This bike will do it all!

The one we have in the shop is the build kit from Kinesis, you can see the specs here.

(Road CC did a nice reveiw of it here)

Crosslight Pro 6

So on to my bike of choice.

I’ve wanted to try out a cross bike for a while, and the choices available from Kinesis always looked like some of the most attractive ones out there. Plus the idea of having disc brakes on the road, especially for the winter, seemed like such a sensible one.

You can now get the Pro 6 as a bike build kit, with 105 throughout, Tektro brakes and FSA chainset and components. It works out to be good value that way (£1399), however I was keen to get a 105 chainset and already have my own saddle, so went for getting the frame to build up how I wanted.

The Pro 6 is designed with racing in mind, so has a more aggresive geometry than the Tripster – a shorter headtube for getting low and tapered headtube for strength on off road lumps and bumps.

I’ve had a couple of rides out on it now and been really impressed. It feels strong and sturdy, yet is also agile and certainly no slow poke! The disc brakes are also amazing to use on the road, even for a mechanical, relatively inexpensive set. They have so much more strength then a calliper- you feel much more in control when going down hill, which around these parts is no bad thing!

(Reveiw from Road CC here and Bike radar here)

(Bike build info here)

Granfondo Ti – coming soon!

Tom’s next bike will be a Granfondo in titanium, he could get one now, but he’s waiting for some of the first of the second version to arrive!

 

In store Kinesis stock!

 

Currently we have:

Cross light 5T 54 cm

Racelight TK3 54 cm

Tripster 54 cm

 

Coming soon….

Racelight T2 51 cm (demo and rental bike)

Racelight T2 57 cm (demo and rental bike)

 

 

So there are plenty of different Kinesis bikes to try out – and all can be ordered in if a different size or colour are required.

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Exmoor Beauty sportive

The Exmoor Beauty sportive seemed to fit me and Becci’s plan to do a small number of sportives in the south west this year. Its not too far from Bath, its organisers run the well regarded Exmoor Beast and a proprtion of the entry fee goes to a local charity. Plus neither of us have ridden on Exmoor, so it makes more sense to leave route planning to locals who (you hope) know the roads better.
Things looked good from the start, the sun was shining and walking over to register we took a good look at the wonderful variety of bikes riders were preparing, checking tyre pressures and loading up with bottles and food.
Signing on was very fuss free. Don’t you find it a pain when organisers get you to fill in forms with information that you gave them already when you first signed up? Not here – our names were just ticked off by the friendly helpers and we were  handed a ready prepared envelope with rider bike ID and a sticky timing tag.
There were a few ‘attractions’ at registration such as the organiser on a tannoy giving information on the route, weather, how to sign on etc all nicely delivered. There was a good little catering outfit doing breakfast, the fruit museli was tasty. A local bike chain had bikes on display and of course mechanics to lend a hand. We talked to a friendly guy about a bike with electronic Shimano Ultegra Di2 gears on display, apparently some riders have been using the system for 3 years with no need for gear adjustment! You could also get a warm up massage or buy cycle clothing. Just the right balance of stuff.
The only major oversights were lack of water dispensing facilities and the most insane queues for a couple of toilets. I didnt fancy filling my water bottles from the school janitors mop bucket cleaning cupboard or from the loos, so popped to a local shop. A water butt would be simple to provide. As for the toilets, well the organiser is an ex marine so a loo reconnisance mission should have been pretty easy! It certainly wasn’t that they were scrimping as there were an over abundance of hired in porta loos at the food stop halfway.
Right on to the ride! Well pretty tough from the word go. I don’t think we stopped climbing for 3 out of the 4 hours we took to complete the ride! There were people riding sporty hybrids, including a steel Audax bike with a Rohloff hub gear so many people were along for the ride to enjoy the scenery and the challenge rather than speed around as quick as possible.
The route was typical of moorland riding, very undulating with steep twisty descents. You had to be on the ball as the hairy descents required plenty of speed scrubbing on the brakes. You also had to be pretty spot on with gear selection to climb what felt like wall after wall following each steep downhill. There were a couple of spots where riders ran out of gears or strength and had to walk. A couple of riders even fell off mid way up a steep bit which was dramatic!

 

There were some really nice landmarks that we cycled past, including a really big reservoir, Exford with its ancient stone cottages and river winding its way through the village and the highest point of the moor after Withypool – this climb seemed to go on for a few miles which was quite hard after having already reached 34 miles with no real descents.  The final descent on a mainish road down to Tiverton was quick but very scenic skirting along the river Exe which grew and grew as we descended down to the finish at Tiverton.  We both finished in 3:55 for the 60 miles of which there were just over 5000ft of climbing.

 

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Bobike childseats

Tom has been speaking highly of Bobike childseats for a long time- he used to use one with his own daughter. So when we found out that they would be available through our main supplier he leapt at the opportunity to get some in and on display.

 

They are a Dutch company with the seats being produced in the Netherlands, and have a strong emphasis on safety and their bio reads as such, “At Bobike, safety comes first. Our child seats meet the European safety standard EN 14344 and provide your child with optimum protection and seating comfort. A range of models lets you responsibly transport your child from the age of 9 months to 10 years on your bicycle. Bobike: you can rely on it!”

 

As well as being safety conscious they have a flair for style, with each seat coming in at least five colourways.

 

They also have a host of great features such as easily adjustable foot rests (with loops), secure harnesses, adjustable head rest, rear LED lights and reflectors, security locks, hand rests, storage compartments and easy on and off mounts.

 

We’ve already had a great deal of interest, especially from having them up at the Two Tunnels opening, but this last week one customer decided that they would not just fit one, but two to carry two children at the same time.

They opted for the Maxi Tour Exclusive for the back, which fitted to the rack they already had on the bike and the Mini City for the front. As can be seen below the two seats fitted really well, despite not being a very large bike, and the three of them were quite happily cycling around the square.

 

 

 

For Bobike we are offering free fitting on all seats, apart from the front fitting seats, which are only free to fit if bought in conjunction with a second.

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Opening festival of the Two Tunnels!

Saturday 6th April marked the long awaited opening of the Two Tunnels, and despite all the drab days we’ve had recently, you could not have asked for better weather- clear blue skies, no wind, it was more like a taste of Summer!

 

There were a number of stalls featuring local food, information about cycle clubs, upcoming Sportive events, attractions and clothing, whilst there was also a large marquee with bar and live music throughout the day. Some of the colourful Bath pigs even turned up in a pen!

 

VC Walcot had a stall to entice new members

 

Stalls and sunshine

 

Our own stall featured information on our bike hire, some lovely Red Velvet cupcakes from our favorite cafe (Java Coffee house), some hand painted bike bells, a selection of our bikes and childseats on display and the childseat fitting challenge.

 

Red Velvet cakes

 

Tom demonstrating the child seat challenge

 

Of course the main attraction was the opening of the Tunnels and the large organised ride Sustrans put on. Proceeds from the ride and donations collected on the day will go toward the maintenance of the route and others in the National network. Those who paid to ride and donated were also entered into a raffle to win our Lapierre Speed 300 bike, the winner, as can be seen below was rather pleased!

 

The winner of our Lapierre Speed 300

 

We cycled all the way through to Monkton Combe on the Sunday, and it really is a lovely way to get out of Bath! Between the tunnels Lyncombe vale is gorgeous, like a secret garden revealed, whilst the views out to Tucking Mill reservoir and Monkton Castle on the other side of the longer tunnel are equally beautiful. The Tunnels themselves are quite bizarre to cycle through, the LED lighting is just about the right level to let your eyes get used to the dark, but see the way and avoid other users. There are also light and sound installations on the longer tunnel, which give an extra surreal twist to cycling through the longest cycle tunnel in Britain.

 

 

Map showing the route can be found below (large file so might take a moment to load)

http://www.twotunnels.org.uk/docs/bath-tt-web.pdf

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The Two Tunnels Greenway opening

Celebrate the opening of The Two Tunnels Greenway by helping keep the route in good shape into the future!

 

Sustrans relies on donations for funding, which they use for new routes, repair of existing routes and schemes such as “Bike It,” where schools are worked with to promote cycling.

 

To celebrate the opening of the Greenway a donation to ride the route will ensure Sustrans can carry on its good work. You’ll also get a chance to win a bike worth £850 from us, so there couldn’t be a better reason to sign up to the celebration ride here: http://www.sustrans.org.uk/what-we-do/connect2/schemes/south-west/bath-two-tunnels/fresh-air-miles-ride 

 

You can also get your hands on one of our hand painted bike bells, which we’ll be selling off our stall at the start of the ride.

 

Painting bike bells

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Shop finished photos!

A week on and the arrival of some new clothing display systems means the shop re-fit is complete!

Our range of Madison clothing now has a much more viewable layout, as do the Shimano shoes and pedals.

 

 

 

 

Since the weather seems to be refusing to turn we’ve kept out the winter gear- with jackets to suit any riding style or budget, gilets, waterproof trousers, arm warmers, leg warmers, over shoes, and full fingered gloves.